The whole-floor space in Manhattan's Flatiron neighborhood is warm, bright, and impressive -- a great way to give your tiny startup an extra feeling of legitimacy to potential partners.

And with a large communal space and classroom, it should quickly become one of the city's go-to venues for after-work socializing and meetups. General Assembly is already planning sessions on building web apps, "Design thinking with IDEO," law for entrepreneurs, and "lean" user experience design.

As impressive as the office space is its initial "class" of entrepreneurs working here, such as the Yipit team, Art.sy, CollegeOnly, and others.

And some of General Assembly's impressive roster of partners include IDEO, Skype (which donated TVs), and the city of New York, which donated $200,000 to support the space and programming.